The present invention generally relates to a cutter and more particularly to a handy rotary cutter comprising a generally elongated handle and a disc blade rotatably carried by the handle at one end thereof, in which a frictional force is applied to the disc blade so as to prevent a free, arbitrary rotation of the disc blade during the cutting operation.
In the case where the disc blade is freely rotatable in the rotary cutter, the user or operator of the rotary cutter has to adjust the amount of a cutting force to be applied through the cutter to a material to be cut during the cutting operation and, at the same time, to adjust or control carefully the direction in which the cutting is to be performed. Unless care is taken in adjusting the amount of the cutting force and the cutting direction, the disc blade often runs over the material to be cut independently of the user's will even when a slight force is applied to the disc blade through the handle, resulting in possible excessive cutting and damage to an area of the material not to be cut.
In order to prevent a free, arbitrary rotation of the disc blade, it has been so arranged in conventional rotary cutters that a biasing member such as a leaf spring, a coiled spring, an elastic rubber block or an elastomer block is provided for biasing the disc blade against the handle so as to apply a frictional force to the disc blade whereby, during the cutting operation, the disc blade may be rotated in contact with the material to be cut in a controlled manner, that is, without any arbitrary rotation. However, the conventional rotary cutters have the disadvantage that the components of the cutter are disadvantageously increased in number, thus resulting in an increase in its manufacturing cost.